If It's a Job, Who's My Boss?

Before we begin, you need to know that the following philosophy might get you fired.

Ministers without a pastor are an enigma to most lay leadership in the church. They act strangely, and make funny noises during worship. They dress oddly and seem to misunderstand the concept of “Office Hours.” This is to say, lay leadership and church staff seem to not get along when the pastor leaves his office. For whatever reason, the staff appears to the lay leadership as being loose cannons and in need of restraint by the church body in order to not tear down the sacred cow that the church has worshiped for so long. The general consensus among most church members is that these staff members are not of the caliber necessary to administrate and lead a church, which is short-hand for, “We think they might make us do something we are uncomfortable doing.”

Maybe this is only true in the limited number of churches in my research pool, but I don’t think so.

As a staff member of the church or as a lay leader of the church, we are among the leaders of the church, not the premiere executive of all decision making. The pastor did not hold such a title either, yet there is a great deal of respect given to the office, and so it should be. But the work of staff and church leadership should not be hindered by the lack of the pastor; especially not hindered by each other. Anyone who finds themselves in a leadership position during the interim time between pastors must be the executive of their own program. All leaders must understand that they will be held responsible for the job that is done during these months or years without a pastor. Part of that executive responsibility is the necessity to coordinate your actions with other programs to ensure that the church is moving forward, and that forward means the same thing to everyone involved. Cooperation of the Saints is a fundamental truth found in the scriptures. There are several of these fundamental truths that can be the foundation of ministry to the Lost as well as the saints while a pastor is not with you.

When in doubt, consult the Word. When the word is not specific about the way a program should be run, don’t worry yourself about what you do, simply bring Him glory in all that you do. However, when the word is specific about an agenda of the new church, or when the scriptures are clear about a philosophy for the believer there must be no more doubt. With all your heart you must champion these elements of Christian life. This will get messy and some people will not like it, but when all is said and done, you must be able to come before your Heavenly Father and receive blessing for the job you have done.

¹¹Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. ¹² We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. ¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Corinthians 5:11-15 (ESV)

Its Only a Job if You Make It One!

I leave the house in the morning, and kiss my wife goodbye. I instinctively say, “I’ll see you after work.” And I exit the house on my way to the office.

I get a call from a friend or family member wanting to know how my day is going and they typically ask, “How’s work?”

I can even remember a moment where another minister friend and I had lunch together soon after I moved to my current position, when he asked me, “How do you like your new job?”

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is a problem with philosophy on their part; instinctively we as humans will associate commonalities shared with other people to those in our own condition. That is to say, we assume that other people are going through situations like ours. This is a common and innocent assumption on their part, but it can be devastating if pastors and ministers assume such a philosophy.

When there is no pastor at a church, the role of the pastor must be dispersed over a group of other people. Some of the duties will fall on you, and you must begin to incorporate those tasks in the rest of the ministry to which you have been called. When these tasks come, there may be a desire to simply put them on the list of stuff that has to get don’t before Sunday, and attack them the same way a plumber fixes a leaky pipe.

But this cannot be the case for ministers.

I think it would be ridiculous for me to say, “Ministers don’t have jobs, they have ministries…” Because of the labor intensive nature to what we do, I believe a statement like this would cheapen our efforts. However, I do believe that we must differentiate between a job like taking out the garbage, and a ministry like developing a sermon, Sunday School lesson, or church event.

We must remember that our leadership and attitude toward laboring for the Kingdom in the absence of a pastor will prove to be a critical example for the church to follow.

What Makes You Think This is YOUR Job Anyway?

Far too often we look at our lives and the things in it and believe, truly believe, that we own it. We think that the car we drive is ours, and that the house we sleep in is ours, and the clothes on our back (and front) are ours, and even the scratched-up Geoff More and the Distance CD we found while cleaning our room at our parent’s house last year is ours. We have deluded ourselves in to thinking that possession is truly nine tenths of the law.

We get out of our bed in the morning and skip our breakfast so that we can walk out our door just in time to make our way to the office where we stealthily avoid our secretary as well as one of our deacons while they not-so-positively discus our numbers yesterday. We make it to our office door and fumble our keys to unlock our door, and sit at our desk to turn on our computer and drink, what is now, our cold coffee and sit for the next few minutes posting about our ‘already hectic day at our office’ on Twitter; all the while wondering why we aren’t rewarded for all the great stuff we have done over the past year in our ministry.

Wow. That may have seemed to be a redundant use of the word “our” but it was necessary to indicate the possessive nature that many of us have about the things in our lives. We believe that all this belongs to us, and subsequently is under our direction, demand, and authority.

Possession is a lie! The truth comes from the word of God wherein we find the love the things of the flesh to be representative of an absence of the Father’s love in them.

1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)
¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For all that is in the world— the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

We must begin to see ourselves as laborers in the field of the Master. We must see our work as being the result of His good will, and our payment far greater than the measure to which we have served. Workers in the field are not owners, nor do they have a claim to the land, but instead, they labor for the master to gather for Him what is owed to Him.

Your Job...

Your job means different things for different people, and while there are many interpretations of the same thing, a job description is meant to help focus a minister for the betterment of the church. The same is true for department heads and committee chairmen they need only look at the vision statement for their ministries. If you don’t have a vision statement for your ministries, now is the time to write one.

A great many people seem to think that the job description is more about control than direction. Though some situations may prove that statement to be true, the elements of a good job description will help to assess, and produce ministry opportunities for your church. Your job description is the very thing that your church created to make you ready for your job. To neglect such a document is the same as telling your church that their desires don’t matter and that you are a better judge of ministry than they. The validity of that argument is not the issue, the call on your life that was placed by your new church and the Holy Spirit provoked your move to your current situation. Therefore, the validity of the document and expectations from your current church are valid points for the ministry you hope to do in partnership with this church. Until you and your church adopt a new description of duties your interdependence rests on the assimilation of your current job description in your everyday life.

My suggestion is that you would acquire a job description from your trusty secretary and laminate it. In the event that you don’t have a secretary, get your fingers dirty by opening the files in that back closet…you know the one. At the onset of your day, you should put it in front of you and begin to pray about the items that you see. Pray that the Lord grant you the ability and forethought to assimilate the items you see throughout the day. Remember, this exercise is not meant to validate the authority of the job description, but is intended to validate the relationship you have with your church through the services you provide. When the church sees you working to accomplish the items they value most, they will see the heart that brought you to this job in the first place.

Supporting your church in every possible way also means that you will create peace when whenever possible. Peace can come, at least in part, due to a humble attitude of service from the staff; and humble service is the seed that bears leadership.

Do For

Doing good work is not only about the work, but it is also about the people we are working for. One of the most fantastic ways to introduce the idea of ministry and hard work to a group or a family in the church is to serve them in an unexpected way. We are always excited about work that will impact the lives of those in need, but we hesitate to base our ministry on families whose needs are outside our walls. It is imperative for ministers and lay workers to be visible during the time without a pastor, and the best way to do that is to engage your church in an activity that ministers to those in need.

Keep in mind that programs must give people a chance to carry on their lives, but the church’s work must be just as much a part of their lives as the rest of it. The nature of giving to the community and to their own friends and families will invigorate their practice, and engage them for other services. Service will only bread more service. Creative people will even be inspired to take the reins and begin new work elsewhere. When that happens, PRAISE GOD!

More than any other time in your church’s life, there must be no competition within or without the church. There are no programs that are more important than others, and there are no ministries of the community that are more important than another.

Get out, do work, and do it for those who need help, peace, healing, clothes, warmth, or the gospel message.